Senior Occupational Therapist- Children's Team

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity to join Gateshead’s Children’s Occupational Therapy Team for a 12 month fixed term contract. Our service works with children aged 0-18 completing assessment and intervention at the environment best suited for the child including home, school, and clinic. We work with children who present with coordination, physical and sensory related difficulties where there is an impact on more than one functional area/life skills. This is an exciting time to join our service as we are introducing new projects such as Coordination groups, sensory related parent groups, MDT intervention groups, Occupational Therapy/Portage pathway focused on neurodiversity preschool children.

The post is fortunate to sit within a well-established and supportive Children’s MDT and benefits from excellent support from the OT department. Here in Gateshead, we encourage and support continuing professional development and have robust supervision processes. We are looking for a highly motivated, experienced person to work with the Children’s Occupational Therapy team. Please see the job description for a detailed list of the knowledge, skills and experience required for this post.

A UK Driving License and access to a vehicle for work purposes will be required for this post for community working. You will be based at one of the Gateshead Health Locations as directed by your line manager.

Main duties of the job

• To act as an experienced autonomous practitioner, providing specialised occupational therapy assessment and treatment for client’s
• To independently manage a caseload, using evidence-based practice and patient centered principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.
• To work closely with children, families and carers to identify individualised and meaningful goals incorporating the child’s voice.
• To work as a key member of the MDT.
• To participate in service development projects and training including in service training and support of colleagues. Where appropriate, to provide supervision to team colleagues and students.
• Actively maintain CPD.
• The post holder will assist in the delivery of the occupational therapy service across community settings, including a range of health and social care locations and the patient’s own home.
• To be involved in a variety of service improvement initiatives and support delivery of OT business plan as directed by Team/Service Lead.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To be automatously responsible for a caseload with complex and multiple needs.
• To undertake complex clinic, home, community and school-based assessments with interventions that have a focus on improving occupational performance and maximising participation in children.
• To work closely with children, families and carers to identify individualised and meaningful goals incorporating the child’s voice.
• To be able to identify and utilise appropriate standardised assessments and outcome measures.
• To appropriate incorporate risk assessments as required in more complex assessments, for example specialise equipment such as seating, sleep systems, moving and handling, etc.
• To create Occupational Therapy programmes and review and grade these accordingly.
• To work within the Multi-professional Team advising other professionals and joint working where appropriate.
• To participate in service development projects and training including in service training and support of colleagues.
• To actively engage in both individual CPD and encouragement of colleagues and the CPD of the team as a whole.

Where appropriate, to provide supervision to team colleagues and students.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.